What is glass?

Glass: a relatively transparent solid substance, which forms a continuous network structure when melting, and its viscosity gradually increases and hardens during cooling, and it will not crystallize. The chemical oxide composition (Na2O CaO 6SiO2) of ordinary glass is mainly composed of silicon dioxide. Widely used in building wind and shading.

Porcelain, also known as colored glass in ancient times, is a transparent, high strength and hardness, airtight material. Glass is chemically inert in daily environment and will not interact with living things, so it is widely used. Glass is generally insoluble in acid (except that hydrofluoric acid reacts with glass to form SiF4, which causes glass to be corroded); But soluble in strong alkali, such as cesium hydroxide. Glass is an amorphous supercooled liquid. The molten glass cools rapidly, and each molecule forms glass because there is not enough time to form crystals.

Glass can be simply divided into flat glass and special glass. There are three main types of flat glass: pulling method (with or without grooves), flat pulling method and float glass. Float glass is becoming the mainstream of glass manufacturing because of its uniform thickness, flat and parallel upper and lower surfaces, high labor productivity and easy management. There are many varieties of special glass, which are explained according to the common varieties in decoration:

[Edit this paragraph] History of glass

Glass was originally solidified by acidic rocks ejected from volcanoes. Before about 3700 BC, the ancient Egyptians had made glass ornaments and simple glassware. There was only stained glass at that time. About 1000 BC, China made colorless glass. /kloc-in the 0/2 century, commercial glass appeared and began to become an industrial material. /kloc-in the 0/8th century, in order to meet the needs of developing telescopes, optical glass was manufactured. 1873, Belgium made flat glass for the first time. 1906, the United States made flat glass and introduced the machine. Since then, with the industrialization and scale of glass production, glasses with various uses and properties have come out one after another. In modern times, glass has become an important material in daily life, production and science and technology.

More than 3000 years ago, a European Phoenician merchant ship loaded with crystal mineral "natural soda" sailed on the Berus River on the Mediterranean coast. The merchant ship ran aground because of the low tide.

So the crew boarded the beach. Some crew members also carry cauldrons and firewood, and use a few pieces of "natural soda" as the support of the cauldron to cook on the beach.

After the crew finished eating, the tide began to rise. They were about to pack up their things and go on sailing when someone shouted, "Come and see, there are some glittering and translucent things on the sand at the bottom of the pot!" " "

The crew took these shiny things to the ship to study them carefully. They found some quartz sand and melted natural soda sticking to these shiny things. It turns out that these shiny things are natural soda used to make pot supports when they cook. Under the action of flame, they react with quartz sand on the beach to form crystals, which is the earliest glass. Later, the Phoenicians mixed quartz sand with natural soda, and then melted it in a special furnace to make glass balls, which made the Phoenicians make a fortune.

Around the 4th century, the Romans began to use glass on doors and windows. By 129 1 year, the glass manufacturing technology in Italy has been very developed.

"China's glass manufacturing technology must not be leaked out, and all the craftsmen who make glass are concentrated to produce glass!"

In this way, Italian glassworkers were sent to an isolated island to produce glass, and they were not allowed to leave the island for life.

1688, a man named Fu Na invented the method of making large pieces of glass. Since then, glass has become an ordinary article.

The glass we are using now is made of quartz sand, soda ash, feldspar and limestone at high temperature.

An amorphous solid material obtained by gradually increasing the viscosity of the melt during cooling. Sex is clear and transparent. There are timely glass, silicate glass, soda-lime glass and fluoride glass. Usually refers to silicate glass, which is made of quartz sand, soda ash, feldspar and limestone through mixing, high-temperature melting, homogenization, processing and molding, and then annealing. Widely used in construction, daily use, medical treatment, chemistry, electronics, instrumentation, nuclear engineering and other fields.

[Edit this paragraph] Classification of glass

Glass is classified according to production process.

-Hot-melt glass:-embossed glass-forged glass-wonderful glass-glazed glass-laminated glass-hotel supplies-polycrystalline glass-glass mosaic-sunshade plastic glass.

More and more people begin to pay attention to display ornaments, a large part of which are made of glass. Many artworks of Qiaodun Art Consultant (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. also use glass materials in the soft decoration scheme.

The following is a modern and concise glass modeling diagram for your understanding.

Simple classification

Glass can be simply divided into flat glass and special glass. There are three main types of flat glass: pulling method (with or without grooves), flat pulling method and float glass. Float glass is becoming the mainstream of glass manufacturing because of its uniform thickness, flat and parallel upper and lower surfaces, high labor productivity and easy management. There are many varieties of special glass, which are explained according to the common varieties in decoration:

First, ordinary flat glass.

1, 3-4 mm glass, mm is also called mm in daily life. When we say 3mm glass, we mean glass with a thickness of 3 mm, which is mainly used for the surface of picture frames.

2, 5-6 mm glass, mainly used for exterior walls, doors and windows and other small areas of light-transmitting modeling.

3, 7-9 mm glass, mainly used in large areas such as indoor screens but protected by borders.

4, 9- 10 mm glass, can be used for indoor large-area partitions, railings and other decoration projects.

5. 1 1- 12 mm glass can be used for ground spring glass doors and some partitions with large crowds.

6. Generally, the glass over 1.5 cm is sold less in the market and often needs to be ordered, which is mainly used for the integral glass wall of the outer wall of the ground spring glass door with a large area.

Second, other glass.

When it comes to other glasses, it is only relative to the classification of flat glass, and the author has no formal classification in the industry. Mainly includes:

1, tempered glass. It is a kind of prestressed glass reprocessed from ordinary flat glass. Compared with ordinary flat glass, tempered glass has two characteristics:

1) The former has several times the strength, more than three times the tensile strength and more than five times the impact resistance.

2) Tempered glass is not easy to break, even if it is broken, it is broken in the form of particles without acute angle, which greatly reduces the harm to human body.

2, frosted glass. It is also made of ordinary flat glass and then frosted. Generally, the thickness is less than 9 cm, and the thickness of 5 and 6 cm is more.

3, sandblasting glass. The performance is basically the same as frosted glass, except that frosted glass is sandblasted. Because of its visual similarity, many owners and even decoration professionals confuse it.

4, embossed glass. It is a kind of flat glass made by calendering. Its biggest feature is that it is light-tight and light-tight, and it is mostly used in decoration areas such as bathrooms.

5. laminated glass. It is a kind of impact-resistant flat glass made of metal wire or metal mesh embedded in glass plate by calendering method. When hit, it will only form radial cracks and will not fall and hurt people. Therefore, it is mostly used in high-rise buildings and factories with strong vibration.

6. insulating glass. Bonding method is often used to keep a certain interval between two pieces of glass, with dry air in the interval and sealing materials around it, mainly used in decoration projects with sound insulation requirements.

7. laminated glass. Laminated glass generally consists of two ordinary flat glasses (tempered glass or other special glass) and an organic adhesive layer between the glasses. When it is damaged, the debris is still attached to the adhesive layer, which avoids the damage of debris splashing to human body. Mostly used in decoration projects with safety requirements.

8. Bulletproof glass. In fact, it is a kind of laminated glass, but the glass is made of high-strength tempered glass, and the number of laminated glass is relatively large. It is mostly used in decoration projects with very high safety requirements such as banks or luxury houses.

9, hot bending glass. Curved glass made by heating and softening flat glass, molding in a mold and annealing. In some advanced decoration, the frequency is getting higher and higher, and it needs to be booked, and there is no spot.

10, glass brick. The manufacturing process of glass brick is basically the same as that of flat glass, but the difference is the molding method.

There is dry air in the middle. It is mostly used in decoration engineering or light-transmitting modeling with heat preservation requirements.

1 1, cellophane. Also called glass film, there are many colors and patterns. According to the different properties of paper film, it has different properties. Most of them have the functions of heat insulation, anti-infrared, anti-ultraviolet and anti-explosion.

Component classification

Glass is usually divided into oxide glass and non-oxide glass according to its main components. There are few varieties and quantities of non-oxide glasses, mainly chalcogenide glasses and halide glasses. The anions of chalcogenide glasses are mainly sulfur, selenium and tellurium. , can cut off short wavelength light and pass yellow, red, near and far infrared light. It has low resistance and has switching and memory characteristics. Halide glass has low refractive index and small dispersion, and is often used as optical glass.

Oxide glass can be divided into silicate glass, borate glass and phosphate glass. Silicate glass refers to glass with silica as the basic component, which has many varieties and wide uses. Generally, according to the different contents of silica and alkali metal and alkaline earth metal oxides in glass, it can be divided into:

① Timely glass. The content of silicon dioxide is more than 99.5%, which has low thermal expansion coefficient, high temperature resistance, good chemical stability, ultraviolet and infrared light penetration, high melting temperature and high viscosity, and is not easy to form. Widely used in semiconductor, electric light source, optical communication, laser and other technologies and optical instruments.

② High silica glass. The content of silica is about 96%, and its performance is similar to that of timely glass.

③ soda lime glass. It is mainly composed of silicon dioxide, and also contains 65438 05% Na2O and 65438 06% CaO. It is low in cost, easy to be molded, suitable for mass production, and its output accounts for 90% of practical glass. Can produce glass bottles, flat glass, utensils, light bulbs and so on.

④ Lead silicate glass. The main components are SiO2 _ 2 and PbO, which have unique high refractive index, high volume resistance and good wettability with metals. They can be used to make light bulbs, vacuum tube cores, crystal glassware, flint optical glass and so on. Lead glass containing a lot of PbO can block X-rays and γ-rays.

⑤ aluminosilicate glass. It is mainly composed of silica and alumina, and has a high softening deformation temperature. It is used to make discharge bulbs, high-temperature glass thermometers, chemical combustion tubes and glass fibers.

⑥ Borosilicate glass. With SiO2 _ 2 _ 2 and B2O3 as main components, it has good heat resistance and chemical stability, and can be used to make cookware, laboratory instruments, metal sealing glass, etc. Borate glass is mainly composed of B2O3, which has a low melting temperature and can resist sodium vapor corrosion. Borate glass containing rare earth elements is a new type of optical glass with high refractive index and low dispersion. Phosphate glass is mainly composed of P2O5 with low refractive index and small dispersion, which is used in optical instruments.

(1) ordinary glass (Na2SiO3, CaSiO3, SiO2 or Na2O CaO 6SiO2)

(2) Timely glass (glass made of pure timely as the main raw material, and its composition is only silicon dioxide).

(3) Tempered glass (same composition as ordinary glass)

(4) Potassium glass (K2O, calcium oxide, silicon dioxide)

(5) Borate glass (silica, B2O3)

(6) Some metal oxides are added in the manufacturing process of colored glass (ordinary glass). Cu2O- red; CuO- blue-green; CDO-light yellow; CO2 O3- blue; Ni2o 3- dark green; MnO 2- purple; Colloidal gold red; Colloidal silver yellow)

(7) Color-changing glass (advanced colored glass with rare earth oxide as colorant)

(8) Optical glass (a small amount of photosensitive substances, such as AgCl and AgBr, and a very small amount of sensitizer, such as CuO, are added to ordinary borosilicate glass raw materials to make the glass more sensitive to light).

(9) Rainbow glass (made by adding a large amount of fluoride, a small amount of sensitizer and bromide into ordinary glass raw materials)

(10) Protective glass (Appropriate auxiliary materials are added in the manufacturing process of ordinary glass to make it have the function of preventing strong light, high heat or radiation from penetrating and protect personal safety. Such as gray dichromate, iron oxide absorbs ultraviolet light and part of visible light; Blue-green-nickel oxide and ferrous oxide absorb infrared and some visible light; Lead glass-lead oxide absorbs x-rays and r-rays; Dark blue-dichromate, ferrous oxide and iron oxide absorb ultraviolet, infrared and most visible light; Cadmium oxide and boron oxide are added to absorb neutron current.

(1 1) Glass-ceramics (also called crystalline glass or glass-ceramics, it is made by adding gold, silver, copper and other crystal nuclei to ordinary glass, instead of stainless steel and precious stones, used as radomes and missile heads).

(12) glass fiber (fiber drawn or blown from molten glass, with a diameter of several microns to several thousand microns and the same composition as glass)

(13) glass fiber (long glass fiber)

(14) FRP (reinforced plastic with strength similar to that of steel, composed of epoxy resin and glass fiber)

(15) cellophane (transparent cellulose film made of viscose solution)

(16) sodium silicate (Na2SiO3) aqueous solution, named because its composition is the same as that of ordinary glass)

(17) metallic glass (glassy metal, usually made by rapid cooling of molten metal)

(18) fluorite (colorless and transparent CaF2 _ 2, used as prism and transparent mirror in optical instruments)

Performance classification

In addition, glass can also be divided into tempered glass, porous glass (foam glass with a pore size of about 40, which is used for seawater desalination and virus filtration), conductive glass (used as electrode and aircraft windshield), glass-ceramics and opaque glass (used for lighting devices and decorative items, etc.). ) and insulating glass (used as window glass).

[Edit this paragraph] Use of glass

1, during transportation, be sure to pay attention to fixing and adding cushions. In general, it is recommended to transport by erection. Vehicle driving should also pay attention to maintaining stability and low speed.

2. If the other side of the glass installation is closed, pay attention to cleaning the surface before installation. It is best to use a special glass cleaner, completely dry and confirm that there is no stain before installation. It is best to use clean construction gloves when installing.

3, the installation of glass, to use silicone sealants to fix, in the installation of windows, etc. , also need to cooperate with rubber sealing strip, etc.

4, after the completion of the construction, should pay attention to paste anti-collision warning signs, generally can use dry paste, color electrical tape and other tips.

[Edit this paragraph] Glass technology

For nearly half a century, glass art design has penetrated into people's lives with unprecedented depth and breadth. At the same time, the use of different kinds of glass and production technology in modeling greatly exceeds any period in the history of glass development. Among them, plane art glass, as an important branch in the field of glass plastic arts, shines brilliantly in the field of contemporary glass art design and becomes a unique medium for artists and designers to carry out artistic creation.

The characteristics of glass determine that it can be processed in many ways to form rich modeling forms. The main raw materials for glass production are glass forming agents, glass modifiers and glass intermediates, and the rest are auxiliary raw materials. The main raw materials are oxides, intermediate oxides and out-of-network oxides introduced into glass to form a network; Auxiliary raw materials include clarifier, flux, opacifier, colorant, decolorant, oxidant and reducing agent.

The glass production process mainly includes: ① raw material pretreatment. Bulk raw materials are crushed, wet raw materials are dried, and iron-containing raw materials are removed to ensure the quality of glass. (2) Batch preparation. (3) melting. The glass batch is heated at high temperature in the tank kiln or crucible kiln to form uniform and bubble-free liquid glass that meets the molding requirements. ④ molding. Processing liquid glass into products with required shapes, such as flat plates and various utensils. ⑤ Heat treatment. Through annealing, quenching and other processes, the internal stress, phase separation or crystallization of glass are eliminated or produced, and the structural state of glass is changed.

Special glass manufacturing

1, colorless and transparent glass, with anti-ultraviolet radiation function.

2, strong absorption of ultraviolet and infrared green glass

3. Dental glass ceramics and their preparation methods and uses.

4, low radiation hollow mosaic glass

5. Production method of low porosity glass-ceramics.

6, self-cleaning glass

7. Glass coated with colored multilayer film and its production method.

8. New technology for manufacturing vacuum glass

9. Method and equipment for producing embossed glass by float method.

10, refractory glass

1 1, preparation technology of glass-ceramic glazed tile

12, preparation method of nano titanium dioxide self-cleaning glass at low temperature

13, nano vacuum coated rainbow glass

14, formula and production process of color paste for laminated color safety glass.

15, manufacturing method of heat-resistant and fire-resistant super-toughened safety glass plate

[Edit this paragraph] Characteristics of glass

Why is glass transparent?

An important reason: no matter how solid a substance is, it is actually empty if viewed from the inside of an atom. Because inside the atom, the sum of the volumes of the nucleus and the electrons is less than 1000000000. Besides, there is no evidence that nuclei and electrons cannot be penetrated by photons! Therefore, transparency is normal!

To understand this complicated problem, we must first understand the following question: Why are some substances opaque?

For opaque substances, we can be divided into four categories:

1. is opaque due to the blocking effect of free electrons: this is why metals are opaque.

2. Opacity caused by light-absorbing substances: The excitation energy of electrons in the molecules of such substances is relatively low, just in the visible range, and the molecules often have the structure of benzene ring, benzoquinone, benzidine or other * * * yoke systems, which can reduce the excitation energy of electrons and make them easily jump to absorb the energy of photons. So the light is absorbed.

3. Opacity due to the destruction of the structure of transparent substances. For example, glass is transparent, while glass powder is opaque; Ice is transparent, but it is opaque when it is smashed. If the structural characteristics of a substance do not conform to 1 and 2, it can transmit light, but if there are many small gaps in its structure, it is white. This is why white objects are opaque.

4, 1, 2, 3 mixed results. The opacity of many objects in reality is caused by this reason.

If there are neither free electrons nor easily excited electrons in the structure of a substance, then the structure of the substance is very tight, and there are not many pores. Then matter can pass through photons and be transparent. So the glass is transparent!

[Edit this paragraph] Glass purchase

Characteristics and application of decorative glass

1. Advanced silver mirror glass. High-grade silver mirror glass adopts modern advanced mirror-making technology, selects super-grade float glass as the original film, and is made through a series of processes such as sensitization, silver plating, copper plating and protective paint coating. Its characteristics are pure imaging, high reflectivity, good color reproduction, bright and natural images, and durability even in humid environment. It is the replacement product of aluminum mirror, and its application scope far exceeds that of aluminum mirror products.

2. Color printed glass. It is the product of the application of photography, printing and reproduction technology in glass.

3. Colored glazed tempered glass. Colored glazed tempered glass is made by printing glass glaze on the glass surface through a special process, and then drying and tempering. Colored glaze is permanently sintered on the glass surface, which has the advantages of acid and alkali resistance, corrosion resistance, never fading, safety, high strength and so on, and has the characteristics of reflection and non-perspective.

4. stained glass. Painted glass is a widely used high-grade glass variety. It is made by directly inking the glass with special pigments, or spraying and carving various patterns on the glass and adding colors. It can reproduce the original painting realistically, and the paint film has strong adhesion, good weather resistance and can be scrubbed. According to the needs of indoor chromaticity, the choice of stained glass can integrate painting, color and lighting. Such as copying landscapes, landscapes, coastal jungle paintings, etc. For the door and the central hall, the vitality and vitality of nature are cut into the room.

6. sandblasting glass. Sand-blasted glass, including painted glass and sand-carved glass, is a glass product that is processed into horizontal or concave patterns on glass by automatic horizontal sand-blasting machine or vertical sand-blasting machine.

Characteristics and uses of flat glass

Flat glass is a traditional glass product, which is mainly used for doors and windows, and has the functions of light transmission, wind resistance and heat preservation. Colorless, good transparency, smooth surface and no defects are required.

The thickness of flat glass is divided into 2 mm, 3 mm, 4 mm, 5 mm and 6 mm, and the single sheet size is 300 mm× 900 mm, 400 mm×1600 mm and 600 mm× 2200 mm. Its visible light reflectivity is about 7%, and its light transmittance is between 82% and 90%.

Characteristics and uses of embossed glass

Embossed glass, also known as patterned glass and knurled glass, is mainly used in doors and windows, indoor partitions, bathrooms and other places.

Embossed glass has a pattern on the surface, which can transmit light, but it will block the line of sight, that is, it has the characteristics of light transmission and light impermeability, and the decorative effect is excellent.

The perspective effect of embossed glass varies with distance and pattern. Its perspective can be divided into: almost transparent and visible, slightly transparent and visible, almost invisible and completely invisible. Its types are divided into: embossed glass, embossed vacuum aluminized glass, three-dimensional embossed glass, color film embossed glass and so on. The thickness is 3 ~ 5mm. It has many specifications and can be divided into diamond embossing and square embossing. When installing, the pattern faces inward to prevent dust.

Characteristics and uses of insulating glass

Insulating glass consists of two or more layers of ordinary flat glass. The periphery of two or more pieces of glass is bonded and sealed with sealing strips and glass strips with high strength, high air tightness and high flexibility, and the middle is filled with dry gas, and the frame is filled with desiccant to ensure the air between the glass pieces to be dry. Its characteristics, due to a certain cavity, have good heat preservation, heat insulation, sound insulation and other properties. Mainly used for the outer glass decoration of heating, air conditioning and noise elimination facilities. Its optical performance, thermal conductivity and sound insulation coefficient should meet the national standards.

Characteristics and uses of tempered glass

Tempered glass is also called tempered glass. It is a kind of glass, which is heated to a certain temperature and then cooled quickly, or specially treated by chemical methods. It is characterized by high strength, and its bending strength and impact strength are 3-5 times higher than those of ordinary flat glass. Good safety performance, uniform internal stress and net crack after crushing. Mainly used for doors and windows, partition walls and cupboard doors. Tempered glass is also acid and alkali resistant. The general thickness is 2-5 mm. Its specifications are 400 mm X900 mm and 500 mm X 1200 mm.

Characteristics and uses of brushed glass

Laminated glass is also called shatterproof glass. It is made by heating ordinary flat glass to a red-hot softening state, and then pressing preheated iron wire or wire mesh into the middle of the glass. It is characterized by excellent fire resistance, can block the flame, will not burst when burning at high temperature, and will not cause debris to hurt people when broken. In addition, there are anti-theft performance, glass cutting and barbed wire blocking. Mainly used for roof skylight and balcony window.

Characteristics and uses of high performance insulating glass

In addition to sealing dry air between two layers of glass, high-performance insulating glass should be coated with a special metal film with good thermal performance on the air layer side in the middle of the outer glass, which can block the energy of solar ultraviolet rays entering the room. Its characteristics are good energy-saving effect, heat insulation and improvement of indoor environment. There are eight colors in appearance, which has excellent decorative art value. Characteristics and uses of glass mosaic.

Glass mosaic is also called glass mosaic or glass paper skin brick. This is a small colored decorative glass. General specifications are 20mm× 20mm, 30mm× 30mm and 40mm× 40mm. The thickness is 4-6mm. Belonging to small glass mosaic materials of various colors. The appearance is colorless, transparent and translucent, with gold and silver spots, patterns or stripes. The front is shiny, smooth and delicate; There are rough grooves on the back, which are easy to paste with mortar. Its characteristics are: soft, concise, elegant, elegant, good chemical stability, good cold and hot stability and so on. But also has the characteristics of no discoloration, no dust accumulation, light bulk density and firm bonding, and is mostly used for indoor local decoration and balcony exterior wall decoration. Its compressive strength, tensile strength, first frost temperature, water resistance and acid resistance should meet the national standards.

Characteristics and uses of laminated glass

Laminated glass is a kind of safety glass. It is a flat or curved composite glass product formed by inserting a transparent plastic sheet between two or more flat glasses and then hot pressing and bonding. Its main feature is good security. When broken, the glass fragments will not scatter, but only produce radial cracks, which will not hurt people. The impact strength is better than that of ordinary flat glass, and it has good crime prevention. It also has special functions such as light resistance, heat resistance, moisture resistance, cold resistance and sound insulation. Mostly used for outdoor door and window edging. The thickness of laminated glass is generally 6- 10 mm, and the specifications are 800 mm X 1000 mm and 850 mm X 1800 mm. ..

[Edit this paragraph] The future development of glass

Glass is warm in winter and cool in summer.

We may all have had this experience: in the hot summer, due to the barrier of glass windows, the hot and bright light that shoots into the room makes people feel more like being trapped in a steamer, upset and dry; It's freezing, and the glass window is like a thick wall, which blocks the warm sunshine outside and makes people feel extremely cold indoors. Although the appearance of air-conditioning freed people from the intrusion of extreme heat and cold, it added a heavy burden to the scarce power resources in modern cities, and the red alarm of power crisis sounded sharply in people's ears. Can you invent a new product that can make people live a warm and comfortable life and save energy? Scientists have brought good news: British scientists have invented a glass that can play the role of air conditioner, which can balance the temperature and make people feel warm in winter and cool in summer indoors.

Why does this glass have such magical power? According to scientists, it is unique in that its surface is covered with an ultra-thin substance-a mixture of vanadium dioxide and tungsten. When the weather is cold, vanadium dioxide can absorb infrared rays, resulting in a warm-keeping effect, thus increasing the indoor temperature; On the contrary, when the temperature outside the window is too high, the molecules of the two combined substances change accordingly, reflecting infrared rays, thus cooling the indoor temperature. In this mysterious coating, the most intelligent core is the 2% tungsten contained in it, which can determine whether vanadium dioxide absorbs heat or dissipates heat.

Speaking of which, you may be fascinated by this magical glass, but it still has some technical "defects", with a dirty yellow-brown thin layer on the surface, which seriously affects its beauty. How to neutralize this color and make it clean is a difficult problem before people. However, scientists are optimistic about this. They predict that this kind of glass will be on the market within five years, and the price will not be much higher than the existing ordinary glass.

easy-clean glass

Things will get dusty when used for a long time, even if it is smooth glass. Over time, it also needs people to clean it up. It is not difficult to clean small pieces of dirty glassware, but it is a troublesome chore to clean the outer window glass. Especially the large glass of high-rise buildings, I'm afraid it's tedious and dangerous to let Spider-Man, a professional cleaning company, do the cleaning. However, in the near future, you can put aside all the inconveniences and dangers of cleaning glass windows, because American scientists have developed a special glass called "Lotus", which can clean itself with the help of the power of nature.

The reason why "Lotus" can "clean itself by bathing" is that it is made by using a special technology and adding special ingredients. Once the dirt is attached to the lotus, under the action of sunlight, electron-hole pairs with strong oxidation ability will be produced on its surface. Then, the electron-hole pair interacts with oxygen and water molecules in the air to produce negative oxygen ions and hydroxyl radicals. In the fierce redox reaction, "Lotus" decomposes various organic substances attached to its surface into water and carbon dioxide. Finally, after the baptism of rain, "Lotus" washed away the residual dirt on the surface, and its clean appearance was radiant again.

Perhaps some people have to worry about whether the special substances on the surface of Lotus will gradually disappear because of the continuous strong redox reaction, and whether it will become ordinary glass again. To this end, the researchers explained that this special substance only played a catalytic role in the whole self-cleaning process and did not lose itself. The coat covered by "Lotus" will never fade.

Anhydrous glass just talked about the self-cleaning glass "Lotus". Now let's know a kind of waterless glass like lotus leaf.

Speaking of lotus leaves, we may not be strangers. In summer, it is like a green arrow, straight out of the water; It is like a graceful Ling Boxian, dancing with the breeze. However, have you noticed that the lotus leaf does not drip, and all the water drops falling on the lotus leaf will slide down along its smooth leaf surface, which is what people often call the "lotus leaf effect". However, this effect does not work on glass as smooth as lotus leaves. If there is dust attached to ordinary glass, when water flows, the dust will absorb these water droplets, and the glass surface will be covered with water droplets. This is also the reason why the glass window is blurred in rainy days. Recently, people finally invented a kind of glass that does not touch water, and the glass can finally produce the "lotus leaf effect".

There is not much difference between the magical non-wetting glass and ordinary glass in structure, but there is a high-tech nano-coating on the surface. Don't underestimate this thin nano-coating, which is a mixture of nano-silica, titanium phosphate compound and tin oxide, and has the characteristics of super-hydrophilicity, anti-static, anti-fog and anti-condensation. Among them, superhydrophilicity is the most incredible. Water will always flow near the glass surface, and when it meets dust, it will take the dust away, making the whole glass surface drip-free.

This kind of glass is widely used and brings a lot of convenience to people's daily life. For example, drivers and friends no longer have to worry about rainy days, because even if it rains heavily outside the window, it will drip down the glass and will not hinder the sight of the people in front. The listing of glass that does not touch water may completely eliminate wipers.